Game 4: Dec. 12, 1998
UConn 70 Pittsburgh 69
How could you forget how this one unfolded? Down four with nine seconds left, Albert Mouring made a three, Pitt threw the inbounds away, then Khalid El-Amin hit a tough shot in the lane to keep the eventual national champions undefeated.
El-Amin then jumped up on the scorer’s table in celebration — a move Eric Devendorf tried to recreate a decade later after he hit a meaningless shot that didn’t even count at the end of a half.
UConn Starting Lineup:
G. Ricky Moore
G. Khalid El-Amin
F. Richard Hamilton
F. Kevin Freeman
C. Jake Voskuhl
Three game observations:
- We all know Moore was not a big-time scorer (except for that first half against Duke), but he had another great first half here. Pitt seemed content to not guard him ever, so he got some good looks early on.
- This game was played much like the UConn-Pitt battles of the mid-2000s: close, physical, at times a little dirty.
- UConn struggled a bit against Pitt’s zone, but with about five minutes to go, the Panthers switched back to a man. That allowed Freeman and Voskuhl to do work inside. There were dunks. There were layups. It was fun.
Three other observations:
- Voskuhl had beautiful hair
- Some fun with coaches: Ralph Willard was the head coach of Pitt at the time. His son is Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard. Orlando Antigua was also on the Pitt bench. He was later an opposing assistant in a famous UConn win from 2014 and now coaches the Huskies’ Civil Conflict rival sorry it’s the other one USF.
- We’ve reached the point in today’s program where I can remember the games I’m watching. I watched this one on the floor of my mom’s room.
Russ’s descent to insanity status:
This is usually around the time I take my nap on Saturdays, so I’m getting a little cranky.
Random artifact from Russ’s room:
Flask
Gratuitous old UConn thing:
Dancing UConn fan after NIT win
Time of Marathon (so far): 5:57:56
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